LBM M&A Mid-Year Update: Both More and Less Than It Appears

Source: Webb Analytics

Two different sets of numbers are telling two very different stories in LBM's mergers and acquisitions market so far this year. Megadeals such as The Home Depot's planned purchase of GMS and QXO's takeover of Beacon mean more locations have changed hands in 2025's partial year than any full year this decade. However, the actual number of deals and number of buyers dramatically trail other years.

Take the 876 locations involved in deals and add the roughly 425 GMS stores to be acquired and you get 1,301 locations acquired overall. That YTD number far exceeds any complete year that Webb Analytics has tracked since 2018.

Then again, even if the second half of the year duplicates the 49 transactions of the first half, you'll still end with the fewest number of purchases since 2020's 91 deals. This year's 49 deals have featured just 35 buyers. That's a far cry from 2021, when there were 93 acquirers.

Greenfield openings also have slowed. Webb Analytics records only 76 openings so far, and even if you count the 50 more that are planned for this year, you get only a little more than half the 221 openings of 2024 and about half the 249 and 256 openings in 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Among the recent deals and openings:

• Decks & Docks expanded into the center of the country by purchasing The Deck Supply, which has six locations in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa.

• Bliffert Lumber bought Jauquet Lumber of Green Bay, WI.

• Gulfeagle Supply took over Broward Roofing Supply in Hallandale, FL, and said it would close its yard in Dania Beach, FL.

• Spahn & Rose bought the three-store, Arkansas-based Whit Davis Lumber Plus.

• Heritage Landscape Supply Group, a unit of SRS Distribution, acquired Frederick Block Brick & Stone, thus adding four locations in Virginia.

• The Helpful Hardware Co. bought Jordan's Ace Hardware of Union, SC.

• ABC Supply opened new locations in Arlington, Marble Falls, and Houston, TX, as well as in Rogers, MN.

• 84 Lumber opened a window showroom in Pittsburgh.